You've loaded your plugins folders with primo free synthesizers and other instruments and maybe even worked out some cool arrangements or tracked some material to your DAW. Imminently, then, you're going to find yourself staring at a mixer.

Getting a great mix is more than just a matter of throwing some faders around and setting levels and pan positions. A creative engineer will need additional tools in the form of equalisers, compressors, reverb, delay and other sweeteners.

Before whipping out that battered credit card or signing in to your PayPal account to splash out on the latest and hottest commercial plugins, though, why not take a look at some quality freebies first?